NOTES FOR GRAZIER AND DEALER.

Press, Volume LIII, Issue 9606, 22 December 1896, Page 2

NOTES FOR GRAZIER AND DEALER.

-"Weekly Press and Referee." By Straggler. A small drought and the unsatisfactory tenor of advices from the English markets have had a pjtrticularly depressing effect on stock business during the past week. Consequently, I have little local information of a cheerful character for my readers. The wool sales—the second of the series for the present season—may, however, be regarded as fairly satisfactory. The catalogues were very large, but at the same a good clearance was made and this is perhaps the best evidence we can have of a fairly satisfactory sale. At any rate the dismal forebodings of a couple of months .back have by no means been realised, and doubtless many growers who hastily disposed of their clips previous to the opening of the local sales are now repenting at leisure. I strolled into the wool sale rooms on Friday morning, and having heard a good deal of grumbling previously at the attitude bu vers were said to take up at colonial sales, I was somewhat curious to see them at work. If what I saw waa an ordinary sample of their I business attitude I must confess myself unable to find muoh fault with it. - I do not pretend to possess expert knowledge of the merits of some of the clips which were under the hammer when I was present but it certainly appeared to me that when tha catalogues indicated lots which one might reasonably assume, would be good straight lines suitably classed and so forth, the competition was both animated and well up to a figure, which left little doubt of the good intentions of bidders. And so I am a little sceptical as to whether the buyers treat us so badly as some growers would wish us to believe. Both in fat and store sheep tho present outlook is quite the worst we have had to face for some years past. This seems peculiarly the oase in Canterbury, and our friend •■Drover" of the Otago Witness notes that freeezing'sheep are lower at Addington, than they are at Bumside. This is quite a novelty and one whioh would scaroely have been credited possible twelve months ago. It certainly furnishes a very powerful example of the great fall whioh has taken plaee in values, but our contemporary says, there is nothing surprising about it, because Canterbury values a while baok were really too ridiculous. This to a great extent we are bound to admit, bat we scarcely appreciate being found below other provinces. It will not, I thinlc, be wise to estimate too i liberally the somewhat substantial rise whioh took place in the lamb market last week.. I fear it was too good to last because I fail, to see any market indications to warrant 13b and 13s _10d being given for fat lambs in December, even if it be the favourite period for securing stuff for the Home market. Unless some very unforeseen feature. is oapable of livening up tbe prioes for -'fats," store sheep must descend from the—comparatively regarded—fairly high pedestal upon whioh they have stood for the past month. I scarcely think that last autumn's standard of prices will have to be chronicled when we get to that period of 1897. The monthly stock sale at Kirwee last week naturally under existing conditions is a very dismal affair, and it was only with difficulty that a few store lines could be quitted. Most of the fat lots were taken home again. Down South there ha. been some talk ol live cattle shipments to Western Australia and even to the Cape. It is said the Union Steam Ship Company are ready to assist if regular freight is offering. "Bruni" of the Australasian is a staunoh friend of the merino sheep. He maintains that English writers on pastoral matters are too apt to assume that the merino is a very light sheep, and that the mutton ia not of the highest quality and says in Victoria, and, indeed, throughout Australia, merino mutton is held in much higher estimation than the mutton of longwools, oross-breds, or comebaoks, and thinks that when the British consumer becomes better acquainted with it he will thoroughly appreciate its excellence. That merinoes can be fed up to heavy weighton our native pastures we have abundan proof. This year a flook of 10,000 wethers, bred on Mr F. S. Falkiner's Boonooke Estate, were fattened on the same owner's Tuppal Estate. Three thousand of thes 6 wethers, tbe top of the lot, were sent to

Melbourne, and sold by Messrs E. T.enohard and Co., and they were estimated to avorage about 661b. The remaining 7,000 wethers were lately slaughtered at the Newport Freezing Works, when they gave an average weight of 601b., as dressed for shipment. Th« weight of the Boonooke sheep has always been remarkable. I remember, "Bruni" writes, when Messrs Peppin Sons, the former proprietors ot Boonooke, sent a large flook of fat wethers to Melbourne over twenty years ago. At that time heavy sheep wero common in Riverine, but these were a long way above the average. I saw the last of them in Mr T. K. Banuet's shop in Bourke street, and, weighed in raj presence, they averaged nearly 701b. A serious loss was sustained by a farmer living in the neighbourhood of Lake Linlithgo during the storm that passed over that plaoe on the 25th November. The " Hamilton Spectator" states that Mr G. Kruger went , into one of his paddooks after the storm had subsided, and found that 29 of his sheep had been killed by lightning. They were found scattered along a fence for a distance of a chain and a half. The Otago Agricultural and Pastoral Association, I think it will be admitted, is possessed of an energy whioh might well be emulated by some other sooieties we could name. I gather from the Witness that the committee are losing no time in making preparations for the next winter Show, and are asking by advertisement in this issue members and those interested in the sooiety to forward ' any suggestions in oonneotion with any com* , petition which may be considered suitable, and which will tend to make the forthcoming show even more successful than its pre - deoessorß. In addition to the dsual competitions of cheese, butter, grain, seeds, roots, &c, the committee have decided to have exhibits of wool from the different breeds. It is to be hoped that the wool-growers will . reserve from sale some of their best fleeces of wool, and make a really good exhibition. - As the Show will be held in the new'Agricol- • tural Hall, there will be no difficulty in having it properly displayed. The sooiety have another important competition under consideration, which will ~ be brought forward and dealt with at tbe first meeting of the committee. During tha • last few yearß the committee have recognised that the competitions held at Tahuna Park for the best milkihg oow have not been quite satisfactory. Experience has proved in many case* that the. animals have not given all their milk, and muoh better results -have bees received from some of the cows when tested at home than thoße obtained on the show grounds, proving that satisfactory results depend greatly on the nature of the animaL To get over this difficulty the society contain- - plate awarding prizes for the best reinrm . from the different herds whose owners Bupply the various factories. It is now the custom of a large number of the factory proprietors ~ to test all the milk received, and to pay tho I suppliers accordingly; and there would be no difficulty in obtaining.a certificate from the factories' results of the amount paid to each *- supplier for the season. It will be necessary for eaoh competitor to state tbe number of /, his herd and also particulars of the j breeds, and for this season it if proposed to take the tests for four months from tho Ist '; ' January, and to publish the results itttf. winter Show. i-,\ ■____■__________________■ •'."'*■.. ,